Black Archives of Mid America, Kansas City, MO

View of the Rose Room at the Street Hotel, Kansas City, MO

Often considered as a potential rival to the DuSable Museum of African American History in Chicago, and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York City, the Black Archives of Mid America boasts one of the largest collections of African-American art, memorabilia and historical materials in the nation, with special focus on black history and culture in the four-state area of Missouri, Kansas, Iowa and Oklahoma . Established by African American historian and folorist Horace M. Peterson III in 1974 on the second floor of the local YMCA, the collection today contains more than 31,000 items, including black art, paintings, manuscripts , photographs, personal correspondence, oral histories, and rare books. Permanent exhibits include one dedicated to Buffalo Soldiers and other Black Army units that served in the Civil War up to World War II, as well as a faithful reconstruction of a 19th century slave cabin. Located in Kansas City’s historic 18th and Vine District, a visit to the Black Archives of Mid American makes the perfect addition to a day of discovery in the downtown area.

Photo: Courtesy of Black Archives of Mid America

Nearby iconic African American history and culture attractions include:

American Jazz Museum - One of the first museums in the country devoted exclusively to this art form. The Jazz legacy was cultivated in the Kansas City of the 1020s and 1930s, rekindled into brilliant reality with a massive restoration of Kansas City’s historic 18th & Vine District.

Negro Leagues Baseball Museum - The centerpiece of historical renaissance of Negro Leagues Baseball throughout the nation, the museum’s exhibits cover the entire history of the Negro Leagues from their beginning after the Civil War through their end in the 1960s in the midst of the Civil Rights movement.

Black Archives of Mid-America
2033 Vine Street
Kansas City, MO 64108-3007
United States
Phone: (816) 483-1300
Official Website
Map & Driving Directions